For the past few months The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano’s Advocacy Team has been studying food insecurity and hunger-related issues, holding meetings and working with stakeholders in the pursuit of building our annual organizational Legislative Agenda—the specific pieces of legislation that we support. That months-long process is now largely complete! This year the Food Bank is actively engaging in hunger advocacy with food policy and anti-hunger legislation on the regional, state and federal levels.
At the state level, the legislation on our 2022 agenda would help:
- strengthen food security for our youngest children, school-age children, college students and immigrants.
- expand access to fruits and vegetables to those on CalFresh.
- ensure food banks across the state have the infrastructure they need to meet the still elevated need of hunger.
At the federal level, the Food Bank is supporting:
- legislation that will expand SNAP access for job-seekers, college students, immigrants and increase benefits for all SNAP recipients to counter surging inflation.
- legislation that will allow schools across the country to continue to serve meals to students regardless of a child’s family’s income status and ensure schools are able to source nutritious food amid supply-chain disruptions.
- policy to ensure food banks have the resources to distribute healthy food to those who need it most.
You can check out a full breakdown over a legislative agenda here! And stay tuned for more as legislation gets near the finish line. We appreciate your support in advocacy and encourage you to contact our Government and Public Affairs Manager, Cassidie Carmen Bates at cbates@foodbankccs.org if you’d like to get involved.
